In general, LED based lighting applications are powered from a lighting grid via a so-called LED driver or ballast. Such an LED driver or ballast can e.g. comprise a Buck or Boost power converter or the like.
LED based lighting applications often comprise a plurality of LED fixture (or LED engine) which can be independently controlled or adjusted by a user (via one or more user interfaces). Therefore, LED based lighting applications may, in general, comprise a plurality of LED drivers or ballasts for powering the plurality of LED fixtures. Typically, an LED driver for powering an LED fixture may comprise a power converter (converting an input power such as obtained from a mains supply to an output power suitable for powering the LED fixture) and a control unit for controlling the power converter. As an example, the control unit can e.g. control an output characteristic of the power converter (e.g. a current level of the output power) based on an input signal received from a user interface.
As LED fixtures in general allow for a variety of illumination parameters to be adjusted, a (digital) communication system is often provided between the plurality of LED drivers and user interfaces. Examples of such systems can e.g. comprise communication busses using DALI or 1-10V protocols. As such, an LED based lighting application can in general comprise a plurality of LED fixtures, which can e.g. be powered by a plurality of LED drivers (e.g. connectable to a mains power supply), and one or more user interfaces, the LED drivers and/or LED fixtures and user interfaces being connected by a communication bus such as a DALI communication bus. The communication between the various components connected to the communication bus can e.g. be controlled by a (master) control unit connected to the bus. Such a master control unit, such as a DALI master may also be used to configure the lighting application.
Currently, there is a large variety of both LED drivers and LED fixtures operating at different voltage or current levels. Further, the performance of LED fixtures (e.g. including a plurality of different color LEDs) is continuously increasing with respect to controlling e.g. color and/or intensity output. In order to accommodate for such increased or changed functionality, an adjustment of an LED driver's operation in powering one or more LED fixtures may be desired in order to optimize performance.
At present however, LED drivers that are adapted to operate in a communication network as described are often found to have a predetermined characteristic behavior and are as such, difficult to modify or adjust in order to obtain an optimal match with a particular application such as an LED fixture that is to be powered.